Road to Silicon Valley is a series of talks that are held monthly as a lead up to the global competition where a selected team from a Zimbabwean University will represent Zimbabwe at the Enactus World Cup. Speaking at the event, FBC Bank Executive Director, Retail Banking and E-commerce, Mr Agrippa Mugwagwa said there is an abundance of talent and that Zimbabwe can draw inspiration from South Africa where there are a lot of hubs doing great things for the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“Innovation and creativity are naturally distributed, just like any other attribute. I learnt something from that ecosystem, ideas can come from anywhere. There is a buzz in the innovation ecosystem that we can borrow from,” said Mr Mugwagwa.

Mr Mugwagwa is Chartered Marketer with a lot of experience in the banking sector. He is responsible for the FBC retail distribution network and the virtualisation of the bank’s business model, making him someone with vital information to impart on the hungry students and aspiring entrepreneurs.

He called for the young entrepreneurs to be innovative, drawing comparisons with how FBC is doing, embracing innovation to its business model. “As FBC we believe in innovation, we have embraced it. Looking at the payment ecosystem, despite our size,” he said.

Mr Mugwagwa also urged the entrepreneurs to embrace data, saying that, “Data science is very huge. Whatever you are going to do will require data.”

“We are hardly using 5% of the data in the payment rails in the market, thus there is an opportunity for you to get in there, develop applications that can actually add value. Seek to solve a problem and money will follow,”added Mr Mugwagwa.

Mr Agrippa Mugwagwa promised that there will be more of FBC being involved in local hubs, helping out local start ups to find their path to success.

TechnoMag CEO and Editor-in-Chief, another speaker at the event urged the aspiring entrepreneurs to make the most of the advantages in front of them given the availability of internet and technology.

“Building TechnoMag wasn’t easy given the fact that we were writing only to a few individuals for the time they managed to get connected to the internet, and social media wasn’t as big as it is to enable easy sharing of information. But things have changed, and you guys are starting your entrepreneurial journey in an era where you are fully equipped to utilise all these opportunities,” said Mr Rutsito.

The availability of the internet, among many other technological advancements in Zimbabwe have enabled many Zimbabweans to learn from the what’s happening around the world.

This was the first ‘Road to Silicon Valley Event’ hosted by Boost Fellowship. ‘Road to Silicon Valley Event’ are monthly events leading up to the World Cup where tech and other organizations can host talks regarding youth entrepreneurship, social enterprises, technology integration and other interesting topics that young people can engage in.